


Dressed

by paintstroke



Category: Starfighter (Comic)
Genre: Cain is bad at feelings but he's trying. sorta, Cain is still kind of a jerk, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Short, Silly, Slice of Life, seriously how does Cain get into those clothes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-09 00:28:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10399590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintstroke/pseuds/paintstroke
Summary: Abel tentatively raised his arms up above his head, looking up at Cain uncertainly. “I could do this myself…”Cain nudged Abel’s feet farther apart, just because he could. He stood in between them, his own shins nearly against the bed Abel was sitting on, happy between the navigator’s legs. “Can’t believe I’m putting more clothes on you instead of taking them off…” Cain muttered with a dark glare masking any softness that threatened to show through, “something’s gone horribly wrong here.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Not the story I was planning on sharing... but the next one's not done yet and I'm too excited about the soon-to-be-posted updates to the Starfighter comic to *not* post something! Aaaagh! So here's a short little drabble.
> 
> I'm (mostly lurking and favourite-ing all the things) on Tumblr at [her-paintstrokes](https://her-paintstrokes.tumblr.com/) if you wanna cheer over fandoms with me.

Abel tentatively raised his arms up above his head, looking up at Cain uncertainly. “I could do this myself…”

Cain nudged Abel’s feet farther apart, just because he could. He stood in between them, his own shins nearly against the bed Abel was sitting on, happy between the navigator’s legs. “Can’t believe I’m putting more clothes on you instead of taking them off…” Cain muttered with a dark glare masking any softness that threatened to break through, “something’s gone horribly wrong here.”

With a single-minded focus, Cain pushed the thick bundle of fabric over Abel’s hand. “Keep your fingers together,” Cain growled, leaning forward to bite the cuff to keep it in place. Thumb loops. Why didn’t he grab the undershirt with the damn thumb loops? He worked on unrolling the thin, clinging fabric, strong hands rolling it down over Abel’s forearm. 

Cain pulled roughly to get the skintight fabric to Abel’s elbow, and noticed that Abel was shaking below him. His sharp teeth softened, letting the fabric cuff drop from his mouth. He stepped back a little, concern breaking through his concentration. “What?” Cain asked, snappy with worry. Abel looked up, and some of the tension melted out from Cain when he realized that Abel was laughing, not trembling, smiling wide despite still trying to smother the sounds. 

“It’s like...a… giant… condom…” Abel gasped out between giggles. “You seriously wear these?”

Cain frowned and went back to massaging the sleeve, pulling the tight fabric up Abel’s arm. “Your mind is always on your dick.” he muttered, unimpressed. 

Cain flexed, maybe showing off a little as he pulled the neck of the garment open, making another thick ring of fabric. His audience didn’t seem to appreciate it though. “No zipper?” Abel complained. 

Cain laughed, a touch bitterly. “Trust me, you do not want anything metal against your skin.” He forced the fabric over Abel’s head, effectively muffling any replies. He made sure that it wasn’t caught on Abel’s ears, then t caught Abel’s other wrist, forcing the hand through the other scrunched up sleeve. He was trying to get the tight fabric around the navigator with as little fuss as possible. It was only marginally easier than dressing his nieces and nephews. 

“How is this even yours?” Abel gasped as he finally managed to free his face. Jerking at the hand that Cain still held resulted in Cain just holding it tighter in defiance. Abel pulled at the clinging fabric around his neck with the other hand alone. “It’s going to strangle _me_ and you’re bigger than I am…”

Cain just let out a “hah,” with his shrug, abandoning the sleeve in favour of ruffling Abel’s now-staticky hair. It made a faint halo as the strands lifted away from each other, charged in the dry air of the spacecraft. Cain’s face softened a little. “You get used to it.” 

“I can’t believe we’re going to the colonies together…” Abel said with a breathy sigh, the starry excitement in his eyes making Cain slightly afraid.

“Yeah, you get to rough it with the worst of us, princess…” Cain gave another tug at the bottom of the thermal shirt on Abel, letting the fabric seal itself to the matching pants. He leaned back a little, admiring the way that the lean planes of Abel’s body showed through the fabric. 

He was going to be fighting everyone to keep this one to himself, he thought smugly.

Cain’s gaze slowly travelled back up, and suddenly realized that Abel was now staring at _him_ with that dreamy, sexy expression. Heat blossomed in his cheeks and Cain pulled further back. No one should look at him like that…. Especially not after everything they’d been through. Cain had to turn away, not ready for the navigator to completely undo him with a single, loving glance. 

He ached for a cigarette. Instead he went looking for the outer layers. 

Abel had obviously been the one to intercept the last laundry delivery. Everything was tucked away and ordered in drawers. Cain usually just left the laundry bag on the nearest surface and pulled out what he wanted. 

He opened the bottom drawer, pulling out a coat he hadn’t used in ages. He didn’t have any middle layers anymore. He hoped he’d traded them for something fun. The lack of a clear memory probably meant that it’d been booze.

“I guess just your normal trousers over those for now… we’ll get proper boots and jackets, but at least with the thermals you can sit around inside and stick out… well, a little less... “ Cain rambled, throwing clothing back towards the bed. “Buy a vest or something if you feel too exposed in that. That’s what some do.” 

“And you?”

Cain grinned. “Me? I add jewellery. I look _damn_ good, no need to cover this up.” He ran his hands along his chest and preened, flashing a devastating smile back at Abel. 

Abel laughed too, a bit helplessly. He pulled the pants over the thermal tights. 

Cain found his old Colony 5 hoodie, stashed at the back of a drawer he’d thought was Abel’s. He pulled it on, and yanked his regulation jacket on over it. He was going to fucking freeze. 

“Are you sure you’ll be warm enough?” Abel asked, voice slightly muffled. 

Cain’s forehead crinkled hard and he looked up, half insulted that Abel was thinking along the same lines. “Yes,” he huffed. “Quit worrying.” That last order was probably hopeless. 

Abel’s big, dark eyes looked over at him from behind a fringe of fur as he wrapped Cain’s winter jacket around himself. The pale fur blended with his hair. Cain looked down at the drawer, pulling out two pairs of gloves, and then back up to Abel, ready to toss the heavier of the pairs to him.

Abel’s eyes had floated shut, and he’d buried his nose in the collar of the shirt, inhaling.

Cain felt his heart contract. He almost couldn’t breathe with how powerfully the wave of emotion crashed over him. He wanted to take the navigator and keep that idiot safe forever. Somehow he managed to force the appropriate words out, “Fucking hell - you’re getting sappy on me now…?”

He launched the gloves quickly at Abel’s face, able to catch the lightning quick shifts between embarrassment and surprise before the navigator’s hand snapped up and caught the soft projectile. 

The blush brought Abel’s pale face and dark eyes into sharper contrast with the pale fur lining of the jacket. He stammered a little, Cain not catching any words as he tried to calm his racing heart. 

Cain shoved the drawer shut, heading over to where Abel was now standing uncertainly. Cain’s arms came up and he threaded his fingers through Abel’s hair, looking deep into those dark eyes. He hesitated a moment, just a hair’s breadth away from the navigator, close enough to feel the heat of his skin, the caress of his breath as Abel’s soft mouth fell open. Cain burned with proud satisfaction, watching those eyes go limpid and heavy-lidded with desire. 

The kiss he pressed into those lips was uncharacteristically gentle, an apology that would never be spoken.


End file.
